Lawsuits from Assoc. Members

[JRutledge]

This is why local officials associations really need to stop assigning games. It has all kinds of liability if someone is not hired to their liking.

Peace

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

This is why local officials associations really need to stop assigning games. It has all kinds of liability if someone is not hired to their liking.

Peace

What does the association assigning have to do with liability. Someone will always be subject to being liable if someone wants to sue. Even if the assigning were separate, they could still sue the association.

Are you suggesting the assignor and association be split? Can't be done here in Oregon. It is just not an option with the state bylaws...maybe even laws. Associations here all do the assigning. There is no reason for an association to exist if they don't assign.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

What does the association assigning have to do with liability. Someone will always be subject to being liable if someone wants to sue. Even if the assigning were separate, they could still sue the association.

Are you suggesting the assignor and association be split? Can't be done here in Oregon. It is just not an option with the state bylaws...maybe even laws. Associations here all do the assigning. There is no reason for an association to exist if they don't assign.

Training and networking. Our associations don't assign, but we have them. I sit on the board of two of them, matter of fact.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Rich

Training and networking. Our associations don't assign, but we have them. I sit on the board of two of them, matter of fact.

In VA all public school games must be assigned by a sanctioned commissioner. A sanctioned commissioner must belong to an association that has contracts for at least 6 public high schools. Officials, however, can pay their state dues and get certified through a non-sanctioned association or as an indepedent.

So if there is, for instance, a public school Christmas tournament, the organizer is not allowed to just go out and hire officials on his own, even if the officials are certified by the state. The games must be assigned through an association commissioiner.

It's a bullcrap rule that was put in place after my association lost its public school contracts but was still hired to work the big in-season public school tournaments.

[johnny d]

In Illinois, officials are sanctioned/certified by the state, specifically the IHSA, not through local associations. In the Chicagoland area, there are no assignments made by officials associations. Officials associations are for training and developing purposes only. Each conference hires their own assignment person who is responsible for assigning officials to games for that conference. We do not pay any of the assignment people dues to be part of their staff. The assignment chairs can hire any IHSA certified official they want to do their games. This is great for us as officials because there are multiple people to work for, thus minimizing politics and the good ole boy networks. I think it also minimizes the likelihood if not the liability of anyone being sued over games or lack thereof since as an official you havent paid any money to belong to a club you cant really have any expectation for getting games from any particular assignor.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by johnny d

In Illinois, officials are sanctioned/certified by the state, specifically the IHSA, not through local associations. In the Chicagoland area, there are no assignments made by officials associations. Officials associations are for training and developing purposes only. Each conference hires their own assignment person who is responsible for assigning officials to games for that conference. We do not pay any of the assignment people dues to be part of their staff. The assignment chairs can hire any IHSA certified official they want to do their games. This is great for us as officials because there are multiple people to work for, thus minimizing politics and the good ole boy networks. I think it also minimizes the likelihood if not the liability of anyone being sued over games or lack thereof since as an official you havent paid any money to belong to a club you cant really have any expectation for getting games from any particular assignor.

I have one assignor who's particularly difficult to work with. So I stopped dealing with him and just fill up my schedule with other assignors. Easy peasy.

[rockyroad]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

What does the association assigning have to do with liability. Someone will always be subject to being liable if someone wants to sue. Even if the assigning were separate, they could still sue the association.

Are you suggesting the assignor and association be split? Can't be done here in Oregon. It is just not an option with the state bylaws...maybe even laws. Associations here all do the assigning. There is no reason for an association to exist if they don't assign.

And that's the way it is here in Washington also...the WIAA by-laws say that all WIAA competitions must be officiated by sanctioned WIAA/WOA officials - and the sanctioning is done by and thru the local Associations. The State laws say something about school districts paying money directly to the officials makes us district employees...so we use some other group to do all the billing of the schools, and that group then pays us and the assignors. Kind of a pain, but it works out pretty well.